As I sit in front of my monitor to write this final entry in the Quantum Leaps Lodge series, I look out the window into my Toronto back garden. The first winter storm of the season is gradually turning the autumnal scene white. Some green leaves still valiantly hold onto the apricot tree branches. A few red ones remain on the Japanese Maple. However my cedar, spruce and Yew will remain a constant green throughout the appearing winter.

With the advent of snow my thoughts turn south. No, not thoughts of waving palm trees and sandy beaches - but to where spring is approaching in Antarctica. The sea ice will be melting and releasing into the ocean the microscopic life that has been clinging there. Once in the water they will provide the food for the krill. When the krill multiply they will provide food for the seals, penguins, whales, birds and other wildlife that call Antarctica home. We know that there is less sea ice. As a result there will be fewer krill. The population of Antarctic wildlife is therefore in decline. I feel the loss in my heart this moment.

In my presentation “Antarctica - A Soul Journey - awakening” I talk about knowing that I must return. Indeed as I see the snow falling on my garden I realize it is only three months until I will be in Ushuaia Argentina, to board an ice breaker to once more travel south to Antarctica, the Sub-Antarctic and Falkland Islands.
But that is next year’s adventure. Now I still savour the memory of this year’s exploration.

photographed by Deborah Parker-Fiddler

Back to June 2007. A time of birthing new attitudes and beliefs. To witness new life only minutes old that I would then see daily with the mother. On that Friday morning I was once more awakened at dawn by Carla’s drumming at the Medicine Wheel. I took a last walk down to the river, watching the sun start caressing the far bank. Spider webs trapping dew formed fairy gateways through the grasses. The doe and her fawn walked by. The teepees were now empty. Piled charcoal a reminder of a fire that had once been. Orange Tiger Lilies were in full bloom. I filled myself with it all one last time before heading back to the lodge.

Brian drove Donna and me to Lake Louise where we each caught different buses to Calgary. At the airport I re-familiarized myself with a different world. Commuters, briefcases, rushing bodies with materialistic motivation, even some might I suggest motivated by greed. I was standing in the corporate centre of the Canadian oil patch. The energy around me focused on taking not giving. This is not to say that there were not people in that airport who take the sustainability of the planet seriously, but I could not feel that energy.

When I was in Antarctica in 2006 I learned of the Treaty agreed to by the world that would prohibit mineral exploration for a further 40 years. We asked why 40, why not 100? The answer was that the scientists believed that since oil would have to be replaced by something else in a much shorter time period, oil seekers would not be a threat to Antarctica. I read recently in the newspaper that indeed several countries of the world would rather break the treaty than accommodate change and look for an alternative to oil. Maybe this was the destructive selfishness I felt in the air at Calgary Airport.

Meanwhile, Quantum Leaps Lodge has become greener with solar power and a larger organic vegetable garden. Annette and Brian are committed to supporting a more sustainable planet by -

·    offering retreats and workshops on sustainability and connecting people to our Mother Earth in a sacred way
·    cooking with organic produce and foods that are healthy and wholesome
·    providing recycling and composting opportunities for all our guests
·    using our outside "solar" dryer for all our sheets and towels (or our inside one in the winter and on rainy days)
·    using only natural and environmentally friendly cleaners, dish soap, laundry soap etc
·    buying as much as we can toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues that are made from recycled paper
·    growing a large vegetable garden for fresh produce

I look out my window. It is a gentle snow fall, but every individual flake is adding its uniqueness to the whole. A white blanket is appearing. Sustainable changes on the planet will be because individuals remain true to their authentic core and as their numbers mount, so will their blanket of influence.
Gandhi asked us to be the change we wanted to see in the world. How do we start?

Embrace every circumstance, own every fault, share every joy, contemplate every mystery, walk in every man's shoes, forgive every offense (including your own), heal every heart, honor every person's truth, adore every person's God, protect every person's rights, preserve every person's dignity, promote every person's interests, provide every person's needs, presume every person's holiness, present every person's greatest gifts, produce every person's blessing, and pronounce every person's future secure in the assured love of God.
Conversations With God, Book 2
Neale Donald Walsch
Pages 175-176

As our retreat with Neale Donald Walsch was drawing to a close someone asked what the easiest way to share the word was. He suggested his book “What God Wants” would be a good way to start. A small paperback with the answer found in Chapter 13. I found one copy in the bookstore at Calgary Airport. I thought to leave it for someone else. But then thinking again I knew it had my name on it.